ITALY: a RAINBOW of FLAVORS Italian Food and Wine by Region
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ITALIA ITALY: A RAINBOW OF FLAVORS Italian food and wine by Region 1. Valle d'Aosta 2. Piedmont 3. Liguria 4. Lombardy 5. Trentino Alto Adige 6. Veneto 7. Friuli-Venezia Giulia 8. Emilia Romagna 9. Tuscany 10. Umbria 11. Marches 12. Lazio 13. Abruzzo 14. Molise 15. Campania 16. Apulia 17. Basilicata 18. Calabria 19. Sicily 20. Sardinia "Food is a gift from God, but cooks are surely the work of the devil", as Oscar Wilde put it with his customary sharp wit. He could well have been thinking about Italian food and wine. It is certainly true that Italy - with its varied landscape of alternating plains, hills, coasts and mountains, rivers, woods, countryside and rich seas, and its mild yet sometimes harsh climate - boasts a wealth of invaluable natural treasures. But it is equally true that what gives life to a culinary tradition, and what creates the history of food and wine, is the work, passion and imagination of man. If Italy is home to such an extraordinary variety of flavors, tastes and aromas, it is because Italians have known how to make the best of nature's gifts and to transform them by taking inspiration from nature itself. This is as it should be, for the art of gastronomy is mimetic, and imitates nature. The process relies on a shifting between different systems, and cookery is its ideal medium. We could produce an endless list of products which might seem unimportant, but which are actually vital elements of Italian cuisine. All over Italy, from the Alps to the Mediterranean, we find the products of a thousand years of tradition, and specialties which exist only here. The desire to taste the country's cooking would in fact be an excellent reason for people to come and visit. An extraordinary adventure - die discovery of die flavors of Italy - would await them, in die great restaurants of die cities of art or major cities, but also in the thousands of small trattorias, to be found in every village and along every road, in die mountain logis, "agriturismo" (farmhouses offering food and accommodation), and wine bars. There are two sides to Italian cuisine: tradition and innovation, and in recent years cookery has increasingly meant, on one hand, performing a cultural activity, by creating new versions of traditional dishes and rediscovering the use of local agricultural products, and on the other, caring for our health, by cooking tasty yet at the same time simple food. The natural backdrop to all this is a landscape on which man has left clear signs of his presence. It is no coincidence that in the last two years 75 new "Food and wine trails" have been inaugurated in Italy, along with 5 "Olive oil trails". Over 500 wine bars have also been opened, most of them promoting locally produced wines. Moreover, in the same period, a number of associations have been set up, bringing together "Flavor towns", "Slow food towns", "Chestnut towns", "Seafood towns", and "Bread towns", alongside the existing "Wine towns", "Olive oil towns" and "Truffle towns", involving a total of over 600 Italian council districts. Throughout the Italian peninsula a capillary network of tourist facilities is being developed which revolves around the "food system" whilst promoting awareness and protection of the environment. In Italy more http://www.italiantourism.com/food4-2.html (1 of 22)5/13/2008 6:34:04 AM ITALIA than hardly anywhere else in the world it is possible to satisfy the hunger for culture and good food at the same time. A good meal may in itself be a cultural experience, offering a whole range of insights into the history, traditions and everyday life of the area in which it is eaten. Browsing through the extraordinary Italian atlas by sitting down to eat may thus become an interesting experience for the mind, and not merely for the taste buds. As the USA's best selling Karen Brown Guide points out: in Italy "gourmets will find the best food in the world", and "the miracle of Italy is that all these gastronomic and cultural treasures are found together in a magnificent country". Italian restaurants offer both the new and the old: the classics (pasta, pizza), but also locally produced wines (well worth having one's fill on a visit to the winery), cheeses, salami and hams (preferably purchased where they are produced), and extra virgin olive oil made from rare traditional varieties (to be bought directly at the olive press).The fantastic, indissoluble marriage between the landscape and its extraordinary generosity in terms of wines and other gastronomic delights inspires a journey around the food and wine trails of Italy. The gastronomic tourist is encouraged to foster a fruitful relationship with the land and its inhabitants, and is rewarded with concrete satisfaction and pleasure. It is an exciting adventure, and well worth the experience. 1. Valle d'Aosta: a synphony of Alpine pastures top This is a region where history has been influenced by its mountains and national borders. The traditional cookery of the Valle d' Aosta revolves around the flavors of milk and cheese, meat, and the products of the land and environment. These flavors are the essence of a harsh yet beautiful land, and take us back to the origins of an ancient civilization. With an extremely high average altitude (much higher than that of the other Italian regions), Valle d'Aosta's culinary traditions are those of a border people, inevitably influenced by landscape and history, and by contact with the Swiss and French. The cookery is based on local products (cabbage, rye bread, chestnuts and milk), but is nevertheless varied, and uses a whole range of ingredients from further afield. Since ancient Rome, many of the influences on the region's food have been related to its history and geographical position. For example, the closeness to Switzerland and France accounts for the region's famous fonduta (fondue), a dish which anyone visiting the Valle d' Aosta should try. The Roman legions brought vine-growing and their culinary traditions based on hunting and the use of barley in soups. These soups - which the local people prepared with rye bread and seasonal vegetables - also abounded on the tables of the lords, where they were enriched with meat stock, cheese and butter. Still today, a favorite dish is seuppa valpellinentze, a soup of white and Savoy cabbage, fontina cheese and rye bread. The local bread has always been made in two varieties: white and black. In the past, the former was eaten only at feast day banquets and was consumed fresh; black bread, meanwhile, was prepared only once per year in an activity which involved the entire community. It became very hard, and to cut it use was made of a "copapan", a type of iron knife that can still be found in craft shops. While the discovery of America brought corn and potatoes to the rest of Europe, in the Valle d'Aosta th polenta (maize porridge) was introduced only in the 18 century. Today it is the most characteristic dish, to be enjoyed in Alpine hostelries. It evokes the tastes of a bygone age, and is served with butter and fontina cheese, or with meat and a variety of sauces. Meat for centuries was a rarity, eaten only in winter, when the climatic conditions made its conservation possible. Still today, livestock are slaughtered just before Christmas and soon afterwards restaurant menus offer a whole range of foodstuffs which otherwise would be impossible to conserve, such as teteun, dried cows udders preserved in salt and flavored with herbs. The typical need in mountain areas to preserve food for long periods led to the development in the Valle d'Aosta of numerous types of high quality sausages. There are also various types of dried and cured meat, such as the salted beef which is at the basis of the typical regional dish, carbonade; also unforgettable is lardo di Arnad, cured belly pork flavored with herbs and spices. For all those who visit Valle d'Aosta, we advise them not to miss out on one of its most characteristic rituals: the coppa dell'amicizia (the "cup of friendship", with a number of drinking spouts arranged around its circumference). The ingredients are simple: a region with ancient traditions dating back thousands of years, a group of friends on holiday, and a relaxing evening after a day spent in the fresh mountain air. Passing from hand to hand, the "coupe de l'amitié" gives everyone a portion of "caffè alla valdostana" (made by mixing scaldingly hot coffee with grappa, red wine, sugar and lemon zest), making sure to make enough to allow the cup to be passed round a good few times. Each time you are likely to drink from a different spout, and this gives the ritual that touch of intimacy which helps create a friendly atmosphere. FOCUS: WINES AND LIQUEURS The Valle d'Aosta's most famous wine is the Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle, also known as "glacier wine" because it is made from grapes grown at altitudes normally unthinkable for vines, up to 1300 meters above sea level. The ideal place to taste and buy the region's best wines is the Enoteca Regionale ad Forum in Aosta, which also hosts frequent food and wine evenings and cultural events. Spirits and liqueurs are important regional products, with numerous types of grappa and the famous genepy, an infusion of flowers and mountain artemisia berries in alcohol. http://www.italiantourism.com/food4-2.html (2 of 22)5/13/2008 6:34:04 AM ITALIA Festival and Country Fairs One of the region's key food wine events takes place in July (usually in the third week) in Saint Rhémy en Bosses, which hosts the Esposizione del "jambon de Bosses", a festival celebrating the local raw ham (awarded DOP status), produced a few kilometers from the Swiss border.This extraordinary ham has a characteristic flavor, delicate, lightly salted with sweet and aromatic undertones and a gamey edge.